The Big Easy
by chamomile prideux
Summary: Bella calls New Orleans, Louisiana home in this story. She is recovering from her abusive past with Jacob. Bella sees her perfect match while working a late night and an almost-unforgivable mistake sets her back. Rated "M" for lots o' lemons!
1. Humidity

Isabella tossed around in her bed while she tried to ignore the pale sunlight that seemed to be trained on her face. She concentrated on the sound of two box fans humming with the strain of the humidity.

"I could probably wring my damn bedsheets out," she muttered.

While she stretched her limbs like a cat, Isabella smelled a distinct scent floating through the house—breakfast. The promise of a warm meal to fill her stomach was enough to coax her from her comfortable mattress. Isabella propped herself up and walked purposefully to the bathroom down the hall.

Before she sat on the toilet, she pulled her baggy T-shirt up to her breasts and dropped her panties to her ankles. The tile floor was cool against her bare feet as she tapped impatiently, wanting to get out of the bathroom and downstairs to the kitchen table.

Isabella practically skipped down the stairs to see what the table was loaded down with.

"Mama! I am so hungry," she said as she plopped down into a chair.

Her mother, Renée, smiled as she set down a dish brimming with milk gravy.

"Bella, honey. Go ahead and help yourself while I get Phil to come and sit down."

Isabella was nearly salivating as she began to heap pan fried potatoes onto her plate. Her mother had sliced enough smoked ham for a football team. Bella laughed to herself about her mother's excess while she smacked a pat of butter onto her grits. Right as she began to stuff her face with a buttermilk biscuit, Phil and her mom sat around the table.

"Good-morning-Phil..." she said, her voice muffled by the warm bread she was trying to swallow.

Phil winked at her and picked up the morning Times-Picayune to scan while Renée dramatically heaved a heavy-with-food plate in his direction.

After Isabella helped her mom clean up, she lazed around the house until the lovebirds went to work. She grudgingly placed one foot in front of the other while she lugged a sweating glass of water upstairs to her bedroom. Bella's bedroom was one of two rooms that opened up to the small balcony that their home afforded. She gently nudged the shutter doors open and sighed heartily before taking a gulp of icy water.

"Shit, there are a lot of people out today," she said as she looked down upon Melpomene Street.

"What day is it?"

Bella turned to walk into her bedroom and she set her glass down to rummage around in her bed sheets for her perpetually lost cell phone. When she flipped it open, the screen flashed a black date at her.

**Fri Jun, 18 11:25 a.m.**

Most people were probably headed to get in line for Friday Lunch. She thanked God that she didn't have to work an early shift at the restaurant today. It would definitely be busy that night, but Friday Lunch typically brought perverted businessmen into Maspero's, not really her preferred crowd. Thinking about the influx of people the night would bring, Bella did a "trust fall" onto her bed and stared at her mottled ceiling.

"Fuckin' Christ," Bella murmured as she locked her bicycle up and walked toward the restaurant. All of the doors were wide open and people were spilling out into Decatur Street. She side-stepped past most of the crowd and went through the back door. In the back room, she tossed her hair into a bun and pulled on a Cafe Maspero shirt. She eyed her reflection in the community mirror as she tugged her shirt down to meet the waistband of her shorts. Hesitantly, Bella tied her waist apron tightly, reveling in what would be her last seconds of freedom that night.

"Benoît! Have you been shucking oysters tonight, or what?" she said while she walked past the kitchen.

"Isabella, this crowd is crazy! C'est fou! We still got a long night ahead of us."

Bella tossed her head back theatrically.

"I'm getting that impression," she laughed.

She walked through the door to the main floor and the noise went from a muffled buzzing to a complete roar. At the bar, most of the regulars were drinking highballs and eating oysters raw on the half shell. Bella gave the tables a once-over and saw a party of four sit down. She grabbed menus and started making her way toward the table.

"Hello! Welcome to Cafe Maspero," she said as she handed a menu to each of the men.

"What can I get you all to drink?"

"I think we want your dollar daquiris tonight. What do you suggest?"

"Well... we make good hurricane daquiris. Lots of rum. Sound good? I'll go grab you all some and give you time to look at your menus," she flashed them a smile.

"Thanks, miss. We'll just be a minute," the man said as he blatantly stared at Bella's crotch.

She turned red and began walking toward the bar to fetch their drinks. While she was filling the little plastic cups, she saw the new band setting up onstage. Her boss, James, had mentioned that he found a good band to play on the weekends.

Bella's train of thought came to a screeching halt when she felt cold daquiri running down her hand. She looked around furtively to make sure that nobody saw her embarassing slip.

Once she handled her group's drinks and took their orders, she moved on to the next table. She and her friend Angela took turns with every other group in the back half of the restaurant.

After she doled out a couple of fried seafood platters, Bella sat down at the bar because of the lull in dining customers. Most people at that time of night came in to drink and listen to music.

"Mike, can I pretty please have a couple of cherries?" Bella smiled sweetly.

"Yeah, darlin'. Hold on, let me dig some out."

She watched Mike place three on a napkin and nudge them toward her. She loved it when the stem was still attached. The band started striking chords and tuning their guitars. Bella popped a fat, red cherry into her mouth and turned her attention to the stage. She automatically broke the skin of the fruit with her front teeth when she laid eyes on the man who was talking into the microphone.

It was like a slow-mo video as her eyes lingered on every part of him. Isabella started from the ground up, his bare feet and dark, worn out jeans that hugged his ass... and other places just right. He was wearing a black button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. For a second Bella imagined his hands parting her thighs... and then she saw his face.

_God damn, he's beautiful._ She started adjusting her shorts to make sure that any wetness hadn't seeped through and rolled her eyes at the way she was reacting to a boy... a fucking boy!

"Jesus, Joseph and Mary! Can you see that guy up there?" Angela never failed to notice a good looking man.

"Uhm, yeah. I wonder if he's any good." Bella felt her blood rush to her face as she fought back thoughts of running into him after her shift.

"Well, honey, if we're judging by the way he looks then he must be fucking AMAZING!" Angela winked at Bella and made a show of licking her upper lip obscenely. Both girls started giggling and looked at each other knowingly as the sexy stranger started singing.

"Damn..." Bella and Angela stared blankly as they listened to his surprisingly deep voice lilt with the old, bluesy song.

_Can I take you out to dinner? Someplace where we can be alone. Tell you how much I love you, then let me hold you in my arms._

Bella's breath caught as she heard him singing the lyrics to Strange Love. _You sure as hell CAN take me out to dinner!_ She was a little more than surprised when she realized she would rather have something other than a romantic dinner. When the harmonica kicked in and gave him a break, he ran his hands through his tousled hair and took a gulp of water.

Isabella stood up to avoid any more unnecessary arousal and looked pointedly at Angela.

"We haven't been working for a good little while, we should probably make a couple rounds."

Angela huffed and gazed longingly at the sexy man onstage. She rolled her eyes and grinned at Bella. Both girls grabbed some napkins and went to find something to do.

After a couple of hours of ass-grabbing frat boys in LSU T-shirts and lots of staring at her new favorite singer, Bella found herself counting tips in the back of Maspero's. She was glad to be going home for the night, but she hoped that the band would continue playing for a couple of weeks. Even if she just knew what his name was...

With a sigh, she hoisted her waist apron over the hook on the wall and stuffed her cash deep into her purse. Angela was already gone and James was trying to get stragglers out of the bar. _I'll just have to walk myself out_. Despite being dangerous at night, New Orleans was pretty well-lit along the main roads. She felt safe riding her bike home after work. Bella tucked her purse under her arm and walked out the back door.

She stuck close to the brick exterior of the building when she heard crunching footsteps behind her. Bella tried to force her eyes to see in the darkness of the alley, but she could only feel sweaty hands against her shoulders and smell stale beer as the figure breathed in and out inches from her face. She kept swallowing back the vomit that her fear had produced as she felt an unmistakably hard cock covered in denim rubbing against her hip. With all that she had, she pulled herself together enough to let out a panicked scream.


	2. Past

**Hi! Thanks for dropping by and reading. I hope you enjoy! Most of the things that you'd want to see or hear or know about in these chapters are linked from my profile page for your benefit! Feel free to review, I'd like to see what you think!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight series by S. Meyer but I am screwing up her story. ;)**

Bella's shriek cut through the alley as she heard gravel crunching with more heavy feet. Immediately after she opened her mouth, the man was being pryed away from her. She sank to the ground and tried to catch her breath.

"Eddy! What the fuck are you doing, man?" She heard one of men shout as they continued to drag him away from her.

"Get your fuckin' hands off me."

Bella saw a pair of sandal-clad feet slowly walk toward her as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

"God, damn. I'm so sorry, let me help you up."

Hesitantly, she grabbed onto his outstretched hand and tried to steady herself.

"I'm Laurent, we were just packing up our equipment so we could head out. I'm really sorry, he's been going through some shit lately. There's no excuse, but that's not like him."

"Uhm... okay. I just want to get out of here, alright? Thanks for your help."

Tears threatened to break through Bella's words as she turned quickly and held her purse protectively to her chest.

"Do you need a ride, girl?"

The kind voice matched Laurent's but Bella continued to walk briskly to her bicycle without responding for fear that she would start bawling.

Once she reached the illuminated sidewalk, she fumbled with her lock nervously and quickly hopped onto her bike. With a deep breath, Bella shoved off and glided down the concrete. She made it to Camp Street before sobs racked her body.

BPOV

I opened my eyes to the peeling lavender paint that covered my bedroom wall. My eyes were bleary from crying and I could feel my facial skin pulled taut with dried and salty tears. _Fuck. _I got tired of staring at the wall, so I rolled over and caught a glimpse of the ugly red numbers that my digital alarm clock displayed.

**1:22 p.m.**

It wasn't exactly surprising that I slept through my alarm since it seemed to be a regular occurrence. I had mastered tapping the snooze in my sleep. When I focused on my nightstand, my favorite chipped ceramic plate was hiding behind my clock and it had a hefty slice of sweet potato pie on top of it.

As shitty as I was feeling, I decided that I was going to savor every fucking bit of the pie. I grabbed the stainless steel fork from the plate and lifted the dish to place it in my lap. I fought off the urge to make that sound that you supposedly hear when angels descend from the heavens. With nearly Herculean effort, I tried to push back my unsettling memories and focus on one thing at a time. My fork crunched through the sweet pecan and brown sugar topping, then slid smoothly through the sweet potato. I sighed and took my first bite, and then my second...

The empty plate stared back at me as I squinted angrily at it. I analyzed all of the flaws in the finish as I debated on staying in bed and wallowing in the past or being a glutton and eating the remainder of my mother's delicious cooking that was, no doubt, downstairs.

My eyes started to well up with more tears when the thoughts that I was trying to dam came rushing in. He was cutting off the circulation in my wrists, I could feel his dark fingers when he shoved them in my mouth and made me choke off my screams.

My stomach heaved and I slapped my hands over my mouth so that I could sprint to the bathroom. I caught my shoulder hard on the door frame, but I made it to the toilet without puking anywhere else.

_What the fuck?_ My throat felt raw, the way it did when it happened a couple years ago. A horrifying thought came to the forefront of my mind—_Was that him last night? _I shuddered violently and rationalized with myself. There was no way. They were calling him "Eddie." He wasn't going to do anything to me. Jacob wouldn't have come here to find me... _it was just a drunken fucking mistake. _I sucked air into my lungs like it was going to be my last breath and held it until I felt a little calmer.

I was supposed to go in to the restaurant at 7 p.m., but I knew that I would fall apart in front of everyone. James would understand...

After my hysteria last night, I had no idea where my phone ended up. I took a wild guess and went to my bedroom to rummage through the sheets. I found the lump of plastic near the foot of the bed and ignored my messages so that I could call my boss. As soon as I saw his number, I pressed the call button.

"Hey, Isabella. How are you?"

"I'm not doing so great, James. That's kinda why I called..."

"What's going on? If you need the night, I think that Victoria could use the extra hours."

"I would really appreciate that... I'm just having some personal problems. I don't think I'll be able to get through a night at work right now."

"You know if you need to talk, I'm here. Go ahead and take the night off, but hey... a guy from the band La Push that we had out here last night came in while I was cleaning this morning and left an envelope. I think it's for you... he described you and you're the only "sweet-faced brunette" that I have working for me."

My heart fluttered in my chest. _Why would anyone leave something for me? Was it the singer?_

"Wow... that's weird. I don't know any of them. When do you want me to come by and grab it?"

"I'm headed that way in a little while for errands. How 'bout I drop it by?"

Despite my sadness, I felt a subdued excitement rattling around in my ribcage.

"Yeah, please. I'll be here. Thanks, again."

"No problem, Bella."

I was already lost in thought when I heard him push the end button. Why did they specifically leave something for me? Did I catch his eye? I tried not to get my hopes up as I thought about how romantic it would be if the insanely sexy singer wrote me a letter.

After that mysterious news, I felt awake. With that alertness brought knowledge of the fact that I hadn't changed out of my crawfish-smelling workclothes from the night before and I was afraid to see what my face looked like after all the crying that I did.

My reflection assaulted me when I returned to the bathroom. My mascara was dried onto my face where it had streaked with tears down my cheeks. The chocolate brown of my eyes contrasted heavily with the red rims that surrounded them and the formerly shimmering eyeshadow had relocated to the rest of my face. I stared at the rat's nest of hair that was unfortunately attached to my head. _There is no way that I'm going to be able to brush that out painlessly. _I wetted a washcloth and started scrubbing my face clean with my citrus scented soap.

It took me a good half hour to brush my hair out and make myself look as if I hadn't been crying all night. I threw aside my closet doors and searched with nimble fingers through the hangers. I quickly found a cream colored summer dress and pulled it over my head. The cotton fabric felt a little rough and cool against my bare breasts. I pulled a clean pair of panties on and I was ready to venture to the kitchen.

The stairs creaked woodenly when I put my slight weight onto them. When I was a teen there was no way that I could sneak out of the house. My mom and step-dad could hear those stairs during a fucking hurricane.

When I rounded the corner to the kitchen, I saw my mom cutting herself a slice of the mouth-watering pie that she had laid out for me earlier. She gave me one of her comforting smiles and stepped aside so that I could grab myself another piece. I loved the atmosphere that my mother created. Our house always smelled like damn good food and she always had music playing while she was cooking or cleaning. While I was slipping a piece of pie onto a plate, I noticed that she was in the middle of listening to "Baby, Let's Play House" by Elvis Presley.

I smiled to myself and licked sweet potato off of my thumb. Mama always danced with me to that song in the living room. She would spin me around in circles like a top until I got dizzy and fell while my chest was heaving with laughter.

Mom interrupted my thoughts when she held my long hair away from my shoulders.

"Honey! It looks so good, especially now that you've got more detail done."

I forgot that she hadn't seen what I'd done with that tattoo since I had it worked on the week before. They were a pair of wings across my shoulders to signify that I was a survivor. A pang of sadness resonated in my head as I remembered why I wasn't able to face Cafe Maspero that night.

"Thanks, mom. It wasn't as painful this time, they just did some filling."

She admired my back a little bit longer and then let my hair fall down to cover my naked shoulders.

Just as she was beginning another sentence, there was a loud knock at the door.

"Ma, hold on. I think that's James."

I left my pie and my mother in the kitchen while I walked hastily across the house to answer the door. He started to knock again and I swung the door open mid-knock.

As soon as he saw my face he flashed me a big smile and his eyes crinkled. He could put anyone in a good mood.

"Hey, Bella. I wish I could stay and talk but I really have to pick some stuff up for tonight. Here you go, though. Let me know what it's about, he seemed really set on getting it to you."

James handed me the blank white envelope and kissed my cheek briefly.

"Thank you for bringing it by. I'm sorry about taking off tonight, but you know... I'll be there next Friday for sure."

He winked at me and turned around to jog to his truck. I was happy that he had to leave, I wanted to read what was inside that envelope immediately.

I didn't want to open it and explain it in front of mom, so I feigned nonchalance and walked briskly upstairs to my bedroom. I couldn't stop smiling with anticipation at what could be waiting for me. As soon as I shut my door, I stuck my thumb inside the flap of the envelope and ripped it open impatiently. There was a pastel card inside. I grabbed it and tossed the envelope to the floor. With a deep breath to steady myself, I bit my bottom lip and opened the card.

The slanted cursive handwriting was a little difficult to read, so I focused my attention on deciphering the words. All it took was a few seconds... and the card slipped from my fingers as the meaning of the message registered in my mind. I swallowed hard and my mouth went dry. _Fuck._


End file.
